Shaft puller

ABSTRACT

APPARATUS FOR PULLING A SHAFT FROM A ROLL OF PAPER THE APPARATUS INCLUDING A YOKE FOR ENGAGING THE END OF A SHAFT AND MEANS FOR MOVING THE YOKE AWAY FROM THE ROLL TO WITHDRAW THE SHAFT FROM THE ROLL.

Jan. 19, 1971 J. A. BENZING 3,556,742

` SHAFT FULLER Filed Jan.v 9, 1969 2 sheets-sheet 1 I NVE NTR.

W 45W- /Bf www Jan. 19, 1971 J.A. BENzxNG 3,556,742

SHAFT FULLER Filed Jan. 9. 1969 2 sheets-sheet 2 United States Patent OU.S. Cl. 29-256 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus forpulling a shaft from a roll of paper the apparatus including a yoke forengaging the end of a shaft and means for moving thexyoke away from theroll to withdraw the shaft from the roll.

This invention relates to the papermaking industry and more particularlythe invention is directed to apparatus for removing the shafts fromVrolls of paper.

By way of background, paper coming from a papermaking machine is manyfee-t wide and it is wound upon a shaft. As wide as it is, lt is notparticularly luseful for indus-try and therefore apparatus is providedfor slitting the paper web and rewinding it onto smaller rolls. Theapparatus for ythis slitting includes a stand for mounting the mainunslit roll and two spaced stands for mounting two shafts onto whichthe'slit webs will be rolled. Between the main roll and the two spacedshafts are slitting knives which continuously cut the web, as it isdrawn from the main roll, into smaller webs which are wound inalternating fashion -upon the two shafts.

It is the removal of the two shafts from the rolls of slit webs to whichthe invention is directed.

Prior to winding the slit webs onto the two shafts, the two shafts aredressed The dressing includes placing a collar on the pull end of theshaft, that is the shaft which will be engaged by the shaft puller. Thena cylindrical core is slid over the shaft to the position established bythe collar. The slit webs will be wound upon the core.

Prior to the present invention, after winding the webs onto the shafts,the shafts were removed by hand. This has been a laborious andinefficient operation and hence an objective of the present invention isto provide apparatus for mechanically pulling the shafts from the rolls.

Another objective of the invention has been to rp rovide apparatus forpulling shafts from rolls wherein the apparatus supports the shafts attheir pull ends and-- after they are partially removed at approximatelythe midpoint of the shafts to prevent their sagging and hence binding inthe rolls. To the end of achieving this objective of the invention, ithas been another feature of the invention to provide for the temporaryremoval of the support for the midpoint of the shaft so as to provideclearance for the collar on the pull end of the shaft to pass by thatmidpoint support.

It has been another objective of the invention to provide for a rapidand efficient height adjustment of the shaft puller whereby the shaftpuller is adapted to accommodate itself to pulling shafts from variousdiameter rolls.

These and other objectives of the invention will become more readilyapparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic top plan view of the papermaking and slittingapparatus with which the present invention is employed,

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic side elevational view thereof,

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the shaft pulling apparatus,

ice'

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are diagrammatic side elevational views illustratingthe sequence of operations of the shaft puller, and

FIG.- 7 is a cross sectional view taken along lines 7-7 of FIG. 4showing the ways along which the pulling and supporting elements move.

As shown in the diagramamtic illustration of FIG. l, the paper is -frstformed in a papermaking machine 10 and as it issues from the papermakingmachine 10, it is wound as a roll 11 on shaft 12. The roll 11 isthereafter conveyed to the slitting apparatus illustrated at 13 whereinthe ends of the shaft 12 are suitably supported. The web 14 of the mainroll is fed past four slitting knives 15 to form live distinct narrowerwebs (for example) of desired widths. The number and widths of the webswill of course be determined by the requirement of the customers. Threeof the webs 16 are wound upon a first shaft 17. The remaining two webs18 which alternate with the webs 16 are wound upon a shaft 19.

As shown, eachshaft, before rewinding, has been provided with a collar20 which is fixed to the shaft by a setscrew 21. The colla'r determinesthe position of a core 22 which is slid upon the shaft prior to therewinding operation.

Adjacent the rewinding station 13 is a shaft pulling station whichincludes the shaft puller 25 of the present invention. A pair of troughs26 are located adjacent the shaft puller, the troughs being adapted toreceive the rolls, align them with respect to the shaft puller, andtemporarily hold .them in position during the shaft pulling operation.

The crane has two sets of hooks 29, 29a which are specially arranged tofulll the following:

When the entire assembly is in the rear position, hook 29a holds dressedshafts. The hooks 29 are located directly above shafts 17 and 19. Theseshafts 17 and 19 are picked up by hooks 29 and the entire assembly movedto the right so that shafts 17 and 19 are directly above troughs 26 and,at the same time, dressed shafts are properly located above the shaftloading position of the rewinder. These rolls may be lowered to troughs26 simultaneously with the shaft lowering into the rewinder. When theseoperations are complete the entire assembly is moved to the right sothat the hooks 29a are located above the shaft puller to pick up newlydressed shafts.

The shaft pulling apparatus is best illustrated in FIG. 3. The apparatusis supported on a main frame 35 which is in turn mounted on wheels 36which travel on rails 37 that permit the shaft puller to be moved to andfrom operative position with the rails maintaining precise alignmentwith the troughs 26 and hence the shafts. This precise alignment isadvisable in order to prevent the bending and hence binding of theshafts as they are pulled.

The main frame 35 carries four vertical posts 39 at its corners .whichin part support a pulling frame 40 to be described below. An anchorassembly 41 is mounted on two of the posts 39 and includes a horizontalanchor control rod 42 to which a control bracket 43 is fixed. Thebracket pivotally supports the upper end of a bar 44 whose lower end isconnected to a pin 45 which passes through a hole in the main frame 35.The pin is adapted to engage a hole in the floor to anchor the shaftpuller in position. The vertical movement of the pin is effected simplyby rotating the horizontal anchor control rod 42 which, through thebracket 43 moves the rod 44 and the pin 45 up and down.

The pulling frame 40 is threadedly secured to four elevating screws 48Iwhich are rotatably mounted in the. posts 39. The simultaneous rotationof the elevating screws 48 causes the pulling frame to move up and downso as to accommodate the shaft puller to shafts from rolls of variousdiameters. At the lower end of each screw is a bevel 3 gear' 49 which isengaged by a cooperating gear 50 on each end of two horizontal adjustingshafts 51. A sprocket 52 is fixed to an end of each of the shafts 51 anda chain 53 passes over the sprockets to cause simultaneous rotation ofthe shafts 51. A crank 54 is fixed to one of the screws to cause itsrotation. It can be seen that rotation of any one of the screws will,through the transmission effected by the shafts 51 and the chain 53cause the rotation in the same direction of all elevating screws 48.

A forward yoke 60 and a rear yoke 61 are slideably mounted on T-slottways in longitudinal frame members 62 which in part form the pullingframe. (See FIG. 7.) The forward or front yoke 60 is to provide midwaysupport for the shafts being pulled and the rear yoke 61 is adapted toengage the pull ends of the shafts to effect the pulling of the shaftsfrom the rolls.

The yoke 61 carries a pair of spaced threaded nuts 59 which are engagedby longitudinally extending pull screws 63. The pull screws 63 arejournaled at each end in blocks 64 `fixed to the pull frame 40.Sprockets 65 are fixed to the rearward ends of the screw 63 eachsprocket being engaged by a chain 66 which passes over a respectivesprocket 67 on a shaft 68 of motor 69. The motor 69 is preferably analternating current reversible ymotor which, through the sprockets andchains, is adapted to effect the simultaneous rotation of the pullscrews 63 to effect the forward or rearward excursion of the yoke 61.The yoke 61 carries brackets or cradles 70 at its outer ends. Thebrackets are notched as at 71 to receive the ends 72 of the shafts to bepulled. Each shaft end is capped by a flange 73 which provides anabutment engageable by the cradle 70 to pull the shafts.

The yoke 61 has two holes 75 through which take-up rods 76 slideablypass. At each end of each take-up rod is a stop 77 which is engageableby the yoke 61 to carry the take-up rod with the loke as the yoke movesin a rearward direction. The opposite end of each rod is fixed to thefront support yoke 60. The function of the takeup rods is to permit thepull yoke 61 to move rearwardly, carrying the shafts 17 and 19 with ituntil each shaft is pulled approximately half the distance to remove itfrom the roll. At this point, the stops 77 are engaged and the pull rodspull the support yoke 60 along the vways in the frame 40 to permit theyoke 60 to provide continuous support for the shafts 17 and 19 atapproximately their rnidpoints.

The support yoke 60 is, as indicated, slideably mounted on the frame 40.It carries a bracket 55 at each end to provide support for the midpointof each shaft 17 or 19. It is important that the bracket 55 lie as closeto the shaft as possible so as to minimize any sag which could causebinding of the shaft in its roll. It must be borne in mind however thatthe collar 20 is xed to the shaft and must pass beyond each bracket 55before the yoke 60 begins to carry the brackets rearwardly. To this end,each bracket is mounted on an arm 56 which is pivoted at 57 on the endof the yoke 60. The arm may have a weight 58 at its lower end or may bespring biased to hold the arm normally in a vertical attitude bringingits Ibracket 55 into support position. The weight or resilient meanshowever will permit the arm to rotate so as to permit each bracket 55 toswing rearwardly as the collar 20 passes by the bracket. After thecollar has passed by the bracket the arm swings to a vertical attitudebringing the bracket to its normal position adapted to engage andsupport the midpoint of each shaft.

The pull frame has a rear limit switch 80 and a forward limit switch 81.The rear limit switch is engageable by the yoke 61 and the forward limitswitch is engaged by the yoke 60. Each is effective to interrupt thecircuit to the reversible motor `69 to stop the traverse of the yokes.

In the normal operation of the invention, it would be usual to have arun of a substantial number of rolls of the same diameter. Bearing thisin mind, the first step in the operation of the invention is to bringthe shaft puller into position and to lower anchor pin 45 into a hole inthe floor to fix the shaft puller in its position. Thereafter the crank54 is rotated to raise or lower the pull frame 40 until its yokes andbrackets are in an upper position to receive the shafts 17 and 19projecting from rolls supported in the troughs 26. The main framenormally will be maintained at that position throughout the run. AS t0succeeding rolls, of the sarne diameter, the crane 27 simply brings therolls into a position over the troughs and eases them into the troughswith the ends of the shaft settling into position in their respectivebrackets.

With the shafts engaged by the brackets, the motor 69 is operated torotate the pull screws 63 and to cause the yoke 61 to move rearwardly.This phase of the operation is illustrated in FIG. 4. Also asillustrated in FIG. 4, a collar 20 is passing by the bracket 55 on thefront or support yoke causing the bracket to swing rearwardly to permitthe collar to pass. As the rearward excursion is continued, the yoke 60engages the stop 77 on the end of each take-up rod 76 to effect therearward movement of the take-up rods. The take-up rods pull with themthe front or support yoke with its brackets in a position to engageapproximately the midpoint of each shaft as it begins to sag under itsown weight.

As rearward movement is continued, the shaft is pulled from its roll andis fully supported on the brackets of the respective front and rearyokes. At about this time, the rear yoke 61 engages limit switch 80 andturns off the motor 69.

The shafts thus supported on the shaft puller are dressed with new coresto receive a new set of rolls. When this is completed and the rolls 18removed from the trough, the anchor pin 45 is raised and the entireassembly is rolled on rails 37 to the center of the machine underlyingthe crane. There the crane hooks 29a pick up the newly dressed shafts.The shaft puller is now rolled to its original position and anchor pin45 locked.

Thereafter, the motor 69 is reversed and the lead screws carry the yokesback to their original starting position. When the starting position isreached, front yoke engages limit switch 81 to turn off the motor 69'.The apparatus is thus ready to receive the next set of rolls.

I claim:

1. A puller to remove elongated shafts from a roll comprising,

a pulling frame having a forward end positionable adjacent the shafts tobe pulled,

a rear yoke mounted on said frame for movement in a horizontal plane,

a front yoke mounted adjacent the forward end of said frame,

each said yoke carrying at least one shaft receiving bracket,

means for moving said rear yoke rearwardly to pull a shaft from itsroll,

the brackets on said front yoke receiving said shaft as it is withdrawnfrom its roll.

2. A shaft puller according to claim 1 in which each said yoke has twotransversely spaced brackets to receive two transversely spaced shafts,

and power means for moving said rear yoke rearwardly.

3. A shaft puller according to claim 1 in which said power meanscomprises a pair of transversely spaced threaded nuts fixed on saidyoke, a pair of longitudinally extending screws threaded into said nuts,a motor, and means drivably connecting said motor to said screws.

4. A shaft puller according to claim 3 wherein said motor is reversible,and limit switches mounted on said frame at each end of the excursion ofsaid y oke for engagement thereby to interrupt the circuit to'said motorupon engagement.

5; A Shaft Puller according to claim l fu'rther comprtsmg,

5 a main frame, four vertical screws mounted on said main frame, saidscrews being threaded into four holes in said pulling frame, and meansfor rotating said screws simultaneously to raise and lower said pullingframe. 6. A shaft puller to remove elongated shafts from a rollcomprising,

a frame having a forward end positionable adjacent the shafts to bepulled, a rear yoke mounted on said frame for movement in a horizontalplane, means for moving said rear yoke rearwardly to pull a shaft fromits roll, a front yoke mounted adjacent the forward end of said frame,each said yoke carrying at least one shaft receiving bracket, means formoving said front yoke rearwardly after said rear yoke has movedapproximately half its shaft pulling distance. 7. A shaft -pulleraccording to claim 6 wherein said front yoke moving means comprises anelongated rearwardly projecting take-up rod fixed to said front yoke,and

slidably engaging said rear yoke, cooperating stop means of said rearyoke and rod respectively to effect engagement of said rod by said rearyoke after said rear yoke has moved half its rearward distance.

8. A shaft puller according to claim 6 adapted to pull a shaft havingcollar on the end adjacent said shaft puller, said front yoke bracketbeing mounted on the upper end of an arm said arm being mounted on saidyoke to pivot about a horizontal transverse axis, and means normallyurging said arm to a position in which said bracket is at the upper endof said arm in a position to receive said shaft, whereby said bracketcan be swung out of the way of said collar before said front yoke beginsits rearward movement.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/1961 Grove 269--60 8/ 1969Hildebrand 29-256

